PghMac.com
PghMac.com
2013
Dear Mac friends:
Many thanks to Charlie Hutchens, Rich Fitzgibbon, John Hamill, Peter Carras, Jon Smith, Sam Hughes, Dhundi Pokhrel, Justin Giebel, Aidan Honnold, Andrew Chiao, and the group of eight folks from UPMC’s IT department (below) for joining me last Friday for our weekly workday at our Goodwill Computer Recycling Center “annex.” We even had a brief visit from old friend Flaccus Stifel, who helped us set up our first Goodwill workspace in 2007. We couldn’t get a photo of him wearing “The Hat.”
It was a birthday for Rich Fitzgibbon, and as a present, we gave him (and ourselves) several weeks off.
We’ll be on hiatus for several weeks. We’ll be waiting to hear from Goodwill of how we fit into future plans. We haven’t received any Macs to refurbish for many weeks, and our hallway is filled with recycling material awaiting pickup. So far this year, we’ve just refurbished 70 Macs for Goodwill, but several hundred have been de-manufactured or sent directly to recycling.
On Friday, we processed another 70 Macs for recycling, making it 290 in just the past four weeks. Somehow, we found a good G4 Tower, which Jon Smith whipped into shape to make our all-time total 3,478.
Also on the workbenches were more Computer Reach Macs. Our UPMC guests learned to work on the iMacs most of them used in middle school. Eight Macs were added to Computer Reach’s pile, ready for new clients.
We don’t know when we’ll be able to gather again to work on the Macs we love and spend time with dear friends in the process. If and when that happens, I probably won’t be around to enjoy it. I just don’t know how my wife’s hip surgery will turn out.
We depart, for now, with work yet to do. We’ve turned off the server, and the WiFi. The benches are still there, along with our tools, ready to work again.
When we know something, you’ll see a post on the NPMUG Listserve and here on PghMac.com.
Robert A. Donaldson
Goodwill CRC update for Friday, July 26, 2013
July 30, 2013